Sounding apparatus



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RIGHD. F. BRIDVVELL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SOUNDING APPARATUS.

Speccation of Letters Patent No. 20,321, dated May 25, 1858.

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD F. BRIDwELL, of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful machine for sounding or measuring the depth of water under a vessel while in motion automatically, which I denominate a sounding apparatusf7 and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side and Fig. 2 a front elevation.

Similar letters of reference represent corresponding parts on the different figures.

My invention consists in the application of a lever to the bow of a vessel, in such a manner that the said lever can vibrate in either direction, in the manner hereinafter described and for the purpose hereinafter specified.

A is the hull of the vessel, and I is the cut-water, around which the strap, Z) is passed and secured to the hulllof the vessel. This strap has a journal, made on it directly in front of the cut-water, as shown at ma. And on this journal a cam block is placed, shown at 0, which is made so as to vibrate easily on the journal.

In each side of the cam block aforementioned a pin is fixed, on which the drag or sounding rod c is swung, the upper end of which is made in the form of al cam-as shownthese pins are shown at it.

Z is a vibrating crotch bar, which has a square end on it equal in breadth to the cam block o and the cam on the end of the lever c. the cams being designed to act against the said square surface on the end of the crotch bar. The lower end of the rod H is attached to the vibrating crotch, and the upper end of the said rod is attached to the lever a, which is attached to the lever e by means of thelink g, and to the opposite end of the lever c the rod o is attached, the upper end of which is fixed in the ball B, on the jack staff D. The lever a has its fulcrum at f and the lever e has its fulcrum at t.

Now suppose the vessel to be running in shoal water, and suppose it to be moving directly forward. When the end of the sounding rodv c strikes the bottom the rod will raise on the are p, and the cam on the end of the rod will act on the vibrating crotch cl, and raise the ball B through the medium of the intervening levers a and e and their connections, whereby the depth of the water under the vessel will be indicated-by the marks on the jack staff# whenever the depth of the water is less than the length of the rod c, which will be the maximum depth measured. It will be seen that if the drag-rod c could only raise and fall on the arc p-that is, on a line with the keel of the vesselit would be broken off when the vessel moved laterally. To overcome this objection is'the object of the journal m and the cam block 0 which is in the nature of a joint, and allows the drag-rod c to swing across the keel, or on the arc p-thus allowing the vessel to turn in shoal water without obstructing the operation of the apparatus, for the block o being made in the form of a cam will cause the apparatus to indicate as well when the vessel. moves in one direction, as in the other.

Another advantage in hanging the dragrod so that it can move laterally is to prevent it from breaking oif when the vessel is backed, in case the end of it should be jammed on the bottonn in which case (if there was no joint) so as to allow the rod to vibrate across the keel, the least slew of the vessel would break it oif, but with the described arrangement of joints in case the end of the drag-rod should be jammed on the bottom the vessel would be made to slew to the one side or the other, so as to allow the rod to pass the center of vibration and raise on the arc to s.

The ball B may be made hollow and a light may be placed into it, so as to illuminate the marks on the jack staff.

I do not claim broadly the application of a lever to the bow of a vessel to indicate the depth of water beneath the bottom but IVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The use of a lever, applied to the bow of a vessel, so constructed, combined, or arranged as to vibrate in either direction substantially in the manner described, for the purpose specified.

R. F. BRIDWELL. Titnesses AMos BROADNAX, EPHRAIM SHIRLEY. 

